Fawad Chaudhry files bail plea in sedition case

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Fawad Chaudhry filed a post-arrest bail plea in the district and sessions court in a sedition case filed against him for hurling threats at the officials of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and their families.

The development comes as a judicial magistrate in the federal capital sent the former information minister to the Adiala Jail on 14-day judicial remand after rejecting a prosecution plea for extension in physical remand of Mr Chaudhry.

Earlier, the counsel for the PTI leader moved the court of Judicial Magistrate Waqas Ahmed Raja for post-arrest bail. However, the judge refused to hear the case, saying it did not fall under his jurisdiction. 

Later, a petition was filed in the court of Additional Sessions Judge Faizan Haider Gillai who has issued notices to the parties and adjourned hearing till Saturday. 

The bail petition states Mr Chaudhry “has falsely been involved in the instant case by the complainant with the malafide intention and ulterior motives just to harass, pressurize and blackmail the present petitioner, whereas, the allegations leveled in the FIR are absolutely false, frivolous and baseless and the petitioner is quite innocent. Moreover, the petitioner has no link or concern with the commission of alleged offence”.

“That the petitioner was arrested in the afore-mentioned FIR illegally unlawfully and without any Justification in negation to the law and the Constitutional rights of the petitioner, hence, petitioner seeks the remedy of bail after arrest from this Honorable Court,” it said.